Is JRiver still the best software?

JRiver Media Server is for the serious, technically astute user.  I have used it with varying degrees of success and lots of frustration for many years.  It's "documentation" and "support"  are not from the vendor but from the community.  My suggestion is if you can install it and use in in a reasonable amount of time (8 hours?)  then it is a great fit for you.  If you cannot, it does not get any easier so cut your loses and find something that works for you.  Just as you don't need a hydrogen bomb to kill a squirrel you do not need JRiver just to play music.  If you are spending months (and I have) just to configure  JRiver to play music on a stereo system over WiFi try something else. As a lifelong software developer I have found it excruciatingly difficult (and fiddly) to use.  My wife can use the JRemote  interface on an iPad but is helpless if something goes wrong or it needs to be restarted.  When I kick the bucket the product will be useless to her.

@danchilcoat,

Looks like you are very frustrated. So much so that you registered today and decided to express your frustration on this music player.

You claim to be a lifelong software developer and yet have these frustrations, while normal audio reviewers are able to configure it. Also tons of videos are available online on how to set it up. I have no horse in the race. But Something does not add up. Maybe you should go into the Jriver site forums and seek help instead of venting it out here. Good luck!

The 7.1 upmixer on Kodi and MPC-BE sound better than JRiver.  Bass in particular is very weak.  It sounds like there is some sort of "concert hall" effect going on, which is undesirable.

Also, JRiver's upmixer has no ability to set sub level, center level, surround level, back level.

Not sure what you mean by "best," but in terms of sound quality Jriver sounds warmer and more analog like than other software that I have auditioned, and MPC HC gives JR a run for the money.  Not sure what others think. 

It's interesting to see that this old thread still gathers a few comments.  That tells me that playback software is still an issue out there.

As far as I'm concerned now, JRiver is pretty much a dead horse.  The MC27 version is now unsupported and won't allow me to add new titles for playback.  I may give it one last chance with the new version, but I'm very disillusioned that such a widely installed platform is so user unfriendly.  Moreover, it should sound like a "perfect digital copy" of the digital data I loaded.  I don't want "better" or "worse." 

All I ever wanted is play the music I've legally purchased in its native resolution.  To do that, I either have to relearn all the Microbloat tricks I've thankfully forgotten since I dumped Windows as my personal op sys a decade ago and pay JRiver an "upgrade" extortion or I have to sign onto some "subscription service" extortion that's easier to use.  Zappa called it "the international hum job" and it has only changed platform.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.